by Julie Kagawa
The creature bellowed, rearing up and tossing its head, and Puck went sailing through the air. He turned into a raven midfall and flapped away, and as the thing came back down with a crash that shook the entire cave, Keirran darted beside it and cut at its chest with his sword.
The blade screeched off the armored hide, and the raspy echo sent shivers up my back. It didn’t seem to have hurt it at all. With a roar, the beast turned on Keirran, smashing at him with a stony paw, and the Iron Prince barely avoided being trampled into gooey paste. It pressed forward, but a big black bird swooped out of nowhere with a screech, flapping right into its eyes, making it flinch for just a second. Keirran dodged back and leaped between two boulders as the beast stomped at him, and the thing bellowed in frustration.
Dropping its head, it opened its jaws and breathed, but this time a cold white mist emerged and rippled over the surface of the lake. I felt the temperature drop, and my skin crawled with cold, even through the effects of the flamefruit.
“Ethan.” Keirran appeared beside me, panting, making me jump. “It’s no good,” he gasped, staring at the monster, still breathing fog over the ground. “Its hide is too tough. I can’t get through.” He narrowed his eyes at the beast, face darkening. “How are we supposed to kill it if we can’t even hurt it?”
“Yeah, well, when I said this was an impossible task, I wasn’t kidding,” Puck added, dropping beside us. “I think this is some kind of ancient elemental. The rocks aren’t a part of the thing. It just uses them for armor. The squishy center is inside.”
“So how are we supposed to hurt it?” I asked.
Before either of them could answer, a scraping, rattling sound echoed all throughout the cavern, making the hairs on my neck stand up. The bits of rock, stone and ice scattered over the lake were moving now, shifting and drawing together where the mist touched it. Slowly, they began whirling through the air, spinning faster and faster, until a brand-new group of eddies rose up from the fog and glided toward us.
“Huh,” Puck commented. “So that’s where eddies come from. Who knew?”
“Great,” I muttered, raising my swords as the first of the swirling creatures rounded the boulder. I smacked a rock away with one sword and lashed out with the other, but then two more eddies swirled toward me and I stumbled away, into the open. I looked up and saw the ice elemental opening its jaws....
“Ethan!” Slashing through one whirlwind, Keirran lunged out and tackled me, sending us both sprawling to the ground, just as the blast from the giant elemental ripped through the spot where I had just been standing. Scrambling behind another, smaller rock, we huddled against the stone as the eddies glided toward us and the giant roared angrily behind them.
“This is impossible,” I told Keirran as we faced the opponents coming at us once more. Puck, standing in the center of another group of eddies, fought determinedly but had his hands full. I grabbed the prince’s shoulder. “Keirran, we have to get out of here. We can’t beat this thing. It’s not worth dying for.”
“Yes, it is.” Keirran’s voice was steady. “It is for me. Go if you want, Ethan. I can’t give up.”
He ripped his arm from my grasp, raising his sword as the eddies closed in. I cursed and leaped to help him, fending off rock and ice that spun through the air. There were too many of them, and they just kept coming. Stones and jagged bits of ice struck my skin, tearing me open even as I parried or blocked most.
The ground trembled, and the huge head of the ice spirit loomed above us with a roar. Apparently, it had gotten tired of waiting for the eddies to flush us out. I cursed, scrambling backward as the armored skull swung down and smashed into the rock protecting us from the wind. Stone and ice flew in all directions as the thing pulverized the stalagmite—and most of the eddies—to dust. I turned to shield my face from the explosion, but something struck the side of my head, making me see stars.
When I looked up, I was lying on the cold ice near the center of the frozen lake, completely out in the open, and a mountain of stone and light was standing directly in front of me. Puck had disappeared. Keirran was nowhere to be seen. The thing regarded me with soulless blue eyes, ancient and depthless, a lesser god looking down on an insignificant mortal. For a moment, I hoped it would deem me inconsequential, a speck of dust that couldn’t really hurt it, clearly not any kind of threat.
Then it opened its jaws, and I felt the cold blue light wash over me, right before the wind shrieked forward to tear me apart.
I flinched, covering my face and eyes, as useless as that would be. For a split second, I thought of Kenzie and my parents, and how sorry I was that I broke my promise, that I’d never see them again.
The wind screamed in my ears, bone-numbingly cold. I heard the crinkle and snap of ice as the jagged spears surged into the air...but didn’t touch me.
Heart in my throat, I looked up.
A dark figure stood between me and the ice monster, one hand outstretched, the billow of his long coat settling around him. The line of ice spears had split at the point where the figure stood, slicing off to either side. I blinked, both horrified and relieved that he was here, that he had found us.
“’Bout time you joined the party, ice-boy!” Puck yelled from somewhere overhead. The Summer prankster appeared on the monster’s head again, grinning down at us. “I was wondering if Furball would ever find you. Hey, remember that time we fought those hill giants throwing boulders at us down Redwater Gorge? This is so much worse than that!”
I scrambled upright as the ice monster roared and blasted us again. But Ash raised his hand, and the wind sheared around him once more, splitting off to the side. I guessed the former prince of the Unseelie Court had a few centuries of Winter magic under his belt; the cold just didn’t affect him. The ice monster bellowed angrily, and Ash turned his head and gave me a furious glare.
“Ethan, get out of here, now!”
“No!” I panted, lurching forward, needing him to understand. “We can’t leave!” I insisted. “We have to kill it, Ash! Keirran won’t give up until it’s dead.”
“Keirran. Where is he?”
With a roar, the elemental started forward, intending to crush us now that it realized it couldn’t breathe us to death. Ice eddies came to life and whirled around it, forming a small but deadly army as they pressed forward. I spotted Keirran then, crouched behind an ice spear, glaring up at the monster as it passed. Ash saw him, too.
“Keirran!” he roared, and Keirran flinched, glancing at him with wide eyes. Ash pointed to the elemental bearing down on us. “Get below it!” he called. “Its underside isn’t protected! A strong pulse of Summer glamour to the heart is the only way to take it down!”
Keirran’s eyes narrowed. Raising his sword, he darted around the rock and sprinted at the monster.
Ash drew his blade with a chilling rasp. “Go help him,” he said, his voice hard and cold. “I’ll keep it off you both. Puck!” he called, and Puck’s face appeared, peering over the monster’s head. “Keep it distracted a little longer! We’re ending this now!”
The elemental turned its massive head toward Keirran, but Ash stalked forward, flinging out an arm. A flurry of ice daggers struck the monster in the face, shattering harmlessly on the rock, but the thing turned back with an angry roar and plowed toward him.
Puck dropped to the monster’s snout, right in front of its glowing eyes, grinning cheekily. “Hey, ugly, lookee here! I’m doing the Macarena on your nose.”
Guess that’s my cue. I raced across the ice, right for the mountain looming in front of me. Any other time, it probably would’ve blasted or stomped me into paste, but it had its hands full at the moment, with Puck dancing on its snout and Ash fending off blasts of icicle wind, hurling his own ice daggers back. I reached the place Keirran stood, in the shadow of the monster’s bulk, surrounded by ice eddies. Ash had been right; overhead, the elemental’s chest and stomach were open in places, blue light streaming through the cracks and holes in the armor. It was
also ungodly cold this close to the monster; each breath stabbed like a knife, and I could see frost creeping over my skin, ice forming in my hair and eyelashes.
“Keirran!” I gritted out, slashing through a whirlwind as I joined him. “Hurry up and kill it! Let’s get this done so we can get the hell out of here!”
He nodded, slicing an eddy that came whirling at us. “Keep them off me for a second!”
I lunged forward, protecting his back, as Keirran dropped his head and closed his eyes. Light formed in his hand, a pulsing globe of pure sunlight, growing hotter and stronger with every passing second. I spun and whirled around him, cutting at the eddies that got too close, wincing each time something hit me. But nothing struck Keirran, who was throwing off waves of heat now, melting the frost on my skin.
“For Annwyl,” I heard him whisper, and he thrust his hand up, between the cracks in the armor.
There was a searing flash of light, and a shudder went through the ground. The elemental threw up its head and roared, shaking the cavern, as bits of stone and ice began falling from its bulk, smashing to the ground. The ice eddies shuddered and collapsed into piles of rubble as the monster roared again and started to collapse.
“Keirran!” I spun toward the Iron Prince, but he lay motionless on the ground, all his color washed away. Dodging a huge chunk of armor, I grabbed Keirran’s arm, slung it around my neck and hauled him upright. The elemental was crumbling like a cave-in, stone and ice smashing around us. Clenching my jaw, I leaped forward, pulling Keirran out as I did, and the huge bulk of the elemental collapsed with a deafening roar, sending ice and rock flying everywhere. Something hit me in the back and I fell, bringing Keirran with me as I tumbled to the icy ground, stunned.
Gasping, I let Keirran go and rolled to my back, staring up at what was left of the elemental. The cold blue light was gone, and only a shifting mountain of stone remained, spreading over the ice. I was relieved, and at the same time, I felt abruptly guilty. We had just destroyed an ancient force of nature, probably the only one of its kind. And for what? To appease a fickle faery queen who cared nothing for any of us. I had no quarrel with this creature; we had strolled into its home and woken it up when it had been sleeping peacefully, not hurting anything. I wondered if the thing hadn’t been trying to kill us, would Keirran still have struck that final blow?
I felt tainted. I’d allowed myself to become an assassin of the fey, carrying out their dirty work. I’d sworn I’d never do that. I’d sworn a lot of things, back before I met Keirran. My only comfort was that the prince was family and that Annwyl at least would get to go home.
Keirran groaned and stirred, pushing himself to his knees. His color had returned, though he looked paler than before, faded out and exhausted. He met my gaze and offered a faint smile...right before Ash swept up, hauled him to his feet by the collar and slammed him back against a pillar.
“What have you done, Keirran?”
The dark faery’s voice was cold, furious. I scrambled upright, feeling my bruised, aching body groan in protest, unsure if I should step in or not. Keirran winced, but didn’t try to struggle or break free.
“What I had to.”
“You had to kill the spirit of the Frozen Wood.” Ash narrowed his eyes, unappeased. “You had to wake an ancient elemental that has been asleep for centuries, fight it in its own territory and destroy it. Because you had no choice.”
“You told me how to kill it,” Keirran pointed out. “You didn’t have to.”
“Yes I did. Because I know you. If I hadn’t arrived, if I hadn’t said anything, would you have stopped? Or would you have kept fighting an unwinnable battle until it destroyed you all?” Ash paused, waiting for Keirran’s reply. The prince met the icy gaze for only a moment, then looked at the ground. Ash nodded.
“That’s what I thought.” His voice, though it had thawed the slightest bit on that last part, hardened again. “Do you realize what you’ve done? That spirit is what kept the Frozen Wood alive. With it gone, Mab will lose this territory, either to Summer or the wyldwood. She’ll blame Summer for the destruction of her territory, and probably Iron when she hears who dealt the final blow. You’ve probably started a war.”
“It was to save Annwyl!” Keirran’s outburst made Ash pause. The Iron Prince glared at his father, his face suddenly tormented, eyes glassy. “It was the only way to get Titania to relent, to stop Annwyl from Fading away completely. I had to do it.” His gaze narrowed. “I would’ve thought that you, of all people, would understand.”
Ash sighed, and to my extreme shock, pulled Keirran forward so that their foreheads were touching. “I do understand,” the dark faery murmured, and Keirran squeezed his eyes shut. “More than you know. But this wasn’t the way, Keirran. You should have come to us. We would have worked something out. But you had to go do everything alone, and now matters are even worse.”
Keirran slumped, clenching his fists, but didn’t say anything. Ash released him and stepped away, casting a somber look at the mountain of rubble that was once the spirit.
“I have to go to Mab,” he muttered as Puck appeared beside him, looking grave. “See if I can convince her not to declare war on Summer or Iron. Keirran—” he stabbed a terrifying glare at the Iron Prince “—go home. Right now. You, too, Ethan,” he added, glancing at me. “I’m sure your parents are worried about you.”
“No,” Keirran whispered, and Ash’s icy stare fixed on him. He swallowed, but remained firm. “Not yet. I have to go back to Arcadia, make sure Titania lets Annwyl return to court. Please.” He met Ash’s gaze, imploring. “Let me do this one final thing. I’ll go home after that, I promise. And I’ll never leave Mag Tuiredh again.”
“I’ll take them back to Arcadia, ice-boy,” Puck added, his voice uncharacteristically grim. “And I’ll send him home afterward. Both of them.”
Ash stared at Keirran a moment longer, then sighed. “Fine. I’ll allow it, this once. But you had better be waiting for me when I return to Mag Tuiredh, Keirran. We are going to have a long talk. Goodfellow...” He glanced at Puck. “Inform Oberon we’ll be contacting him soon, as well. He’ll want to know about this.”
Puck nodded. Ash spared one last look at me and Keirran, his gaze lingering on the prince. Then he whirled away in a swirl of black, stalked into the shadows and was gone.
Kenzie. As soon as Ash left, I spun toward the place I’d left the girl...and nearly ran into her, coming up behind me.
“Oof.” She staggered back a pace, but I caught her and swept her into my arms, holding her tight. She hugged me back fiercely. Razor peeked out of her hair and grinned at me, but I ignored him.
“Hey, you,” she whispered into my shirt. “Looks like you managed to slay the dragon.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, not wanting to say how much I regretted it. That destroying something so ancient and primal, something that had kept a part of Faery alive, seemed wrong. Not to mention we might’ve sparked a war. Pulling away, I gazed at the mountain of rubble that was once an ice spirit and grimaced. “We should’ve never come here.”
“Was that Keirran’s dad that just left?” Kenzie went on, looking in the direction Ash disappeared. I nodded. “Where’s he going in such a hurry?”
“Oh, just to visit Mab.” Puck sighed, shaking his head as he walked past. “You know, catch up, have some cookies, maybe prevent her from declaring all-out war on the other courts. The usual.” He gave me and Keirran an unreadable look and rolled his eyes. “You two. I swear, this is so familiar. What’s that human saying about having a kid that turns out to be just like you?” He snorted. “Well, come on, then. Let’s get you back to Arcadia so you can see Titania, and we can put an end to this insanity.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
TITANIA’S DECISION
When we came out of the caves, what Ash had been talking about became abundantly and sickeningly clear.
The Frozen Wood was disappearing. The ice that had coated every leaf, tree, twig and branch was near
ly gone, and the snow was melting away, showing patches of bare earth beneath. Water dripped from the branches overhead, turning the ground slushy, and mud sucked at our feet as we walked. Dead animals lay scattered about the wood, some still coated in frozen crystal, but many sprawled limply in the snow. Without the ice keeping them in a state of eternal preservation, they looked dirty and ugly, as did the once-pristine woods around them.
“Mab is going to be pissed,” Puck remarked, frowning at the devastation around us. “I hope ice-boy catches her on a good day.”
I helped do this, I thought, wrenching my gaze from a scattering of dead birds around the trunk of a tree. My insides turned, making me feel sick. If Mab declares war on Arcadia or Meghan’s court, it will be partly my fault.
I glanced at Keirran, wondering if he felt as guilty and horrified as I did. His expression was blank, unreadable, even as he faced the fallout of our actions, and I wanted to kick him.
Last time, Keirran. I narrowed my eyes, glaring at the back of his head. This is the last time you can expect help from me. I know you want to save Annwyl, but this has gone way too far. After this, after Annwyl is home, we’re done. Puck was right about you—you’re trouble, and I’m not going to get dragged into any more messes because of you.
“Hey.” Kenzie’s fingers brushed my arm, interrupting my dark thoughts. “I know that look,” she said, peering up at me. “That’s not your happy face, tough guy. If your eyes could shoot laser beams, Keirran’s head would explode. What are you thinking?”
“Look around us,” I whispered and gestured to the body of a stag we’d passed earlier. It had fallen into the mud, its legs rising stiffly into the air. “We did this. Keirran and I are responsible for this. We killed something we shouldn’t have, and now look at what’s happened.”
